Thursday, December 6, 2007

I'm having an information session for this Travel Writing for Journalists class in London on Monday December 17th from 12-1 pm in Park 220.I would entice you with food, but I don't have a budget for that. So bring a brown bag lunch and we'll chat about how awesome this trip will be. I'll have syllabi for you to sink your teeth into, and also some applications.

Deadline for applying is February 25th, but I want you folks to get in before that. There's been a fair amount of buzz surrounding this course, so I'm hoping for a solid turn out.

If you have any questions, shoot me an e-mail at rparkhurst@ithaca.edu and I'll get back to you.

Friday, November 30, 2007

Okay, so you're probably thinking to yourself "hey this sounds like a great trip, but how much is the damn thing gonna cost?"

I'm not gonna lie, it's kind of expensive. When I break it down for you though, you're going to see how worth it this will be.

So here's the deal, 3 1/2 weeks in London is going to cost $4800 dollars. WAIT!!! DON'T LEAVE YET!!! Let me break this down for you before you get scared off.

Here's where that money will be going:

Tuition for a 3-credit course: $2415Flight to London: $850 (round trip)Tube Pass (3 weeks):* $160Room & Board: $1155Field Trips:** $175Book for Course: $15International ID Card: $22________________________________________________________________TOTAL: $4792* - The tube pass gives you transit on London's Underground in Zones 1 & 2, plus you can use it for the buses anywhere in the city. It's THE way to get around London and it's included in the cost of the program** - Field Trips include: Entrance into St. Paul's Cathedral, The Tower of London, Kensington Palace (where Princess Di lived), a ticket to see a Shakespearean play in the Globe Theatre (a MUST see), and 4 different London walking tours (a pub walk, a Beatles walk, a Jack the Ripper Walk, and a DaVinci Code walk).

Okay, so here's the deal. More than half of this cost is tuition for a three credit course -- something you'd be paying for anyways right? This course is LIBERAL ARTS (and Special Topics if you're a journalism major and haven't fulfilled this requirement yet), which means it counts towards your liberal arts credits (duh!). You'd be paying for these credits anyways. So basically you can do London for three weeks with an expert guide, that includes flight and room & board for about $2300 dollars.

Go to any travel agent in the world. Are you back? That's a deal you will never find anywhere for three weeks in one of the hippest cities on earth.

So there's the pitch. Take it for what it's worth but hopefully you're still on-board. As I've said before... my guarantee to you is that you will see more of London in 3 weeks with me than you would see in three months by yourself. And you're going to learn a whole lot about writing for a travel publication too.

First off, introductions. My name is Ryan Parkhurst, and I am currently a professor of journalism in the Park School at Ithaca College. My three passions are writing, travel, and teaching. This course is based around those three loves.

I lived in London for a little more than a year on two separate occasions. London is one of the coolest cities in the world, and is a city you absolutely have to experience before you die.

This blog will act as a place where I can update what is happening with the program, and when students start to sign up, a place we can talk about what YOU want to learn about London while we're over there.

This is a chance of a lifetime -- for you and me! Let's make the most of it.

If you have any questions about the program shoot me an e-mail at rparkhurst@ithaca.edu and we can chat. Or you can post it in the comments section here.